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March 26, 2020Amazonâs Premier League performance – No challenge for pr [...]
Focus Report, ReportsAmazon aired its first set of Premier League matches in December, with proxy figures supporting reports that it attracted up to 2 million concurrent viewers -
March 25, 2020Recommendations: Dealing with COVID-19 based cyberattacks and sca [...]
Focus Report, ReportsThere have been many reports of cyber criminals using the COVID-19 pandemic to trick users into installing cyber viruses, purchasing false products and/or divulging sensitive personal or business information. Whilst this trend is disturbing it is also being combined with a massive and global shift to employees working from home which in turn exposes security vulnerabilities into a wide range of home devices and networks. Although these risks are evolving, this report outlines some of the current cyber scams, the shift to working from home and immediate recommendations for businesses with staff working from home. -
March 19, 2020Mobile payments â billion dollar opportunity in New Zealand to [...]
Focus Report, ReportsPayments has emerged as one of the key areas of disruption. The shift from physical to electronic payments has seen an ever-expanding range of payment methods replacing cash. From mobile banking and contactless cards to phone payments and bespoke apps, the payment landscape is undergoing a quiet revolution.Sector Technology. -
March 13, 2020Gamingâs mainstream decade – Five defining themes for the [...]
Focus Report, Reports2020 promises a year of transition for the games industry: eSports and games broadcasting are competing with traditional programming; game streaming services are becoming meaningful platform competition; and new consoles are on the way -
March 10, 2020Amazon Advertising: From Duopoly to Triopoly in advertising?
Focus Report, ReportsOver the past two decades, global ecommerce giant, Amazon has focused on owning entire market verticals with books being the first market that it dominated. However, to think of Amazon as just an online retailer, would be underestimating the depth and breadth of its presence across multiple markets. Amazonâs ultimate aim is to curate the customerâs entire e-commerce journey. Amazon not only sells products; it also produces television shows and movies; publishes books; operates the worldâs largest streaming video-game platform; manufactures a growing array of products. More recently the bright spot was Amazonâs advertising business, which appears to be picking up speed again.Sector Media. -
March 5, 2020Virgin Media UK: Pain before gain
Focus Report, ReportsVirgin Mediaâs subscriber base fell again in Q4, although strong ARPU growth allowed a slight acceleration in cable revenue growth to 1.8%, and a deceleration in OCF decline to 1%. Liberty Global group OCF guidance of mid-single digit decline in 2020 is likely to be mirrored at Virgin Media, as regulatory pressure and market competitiveness continue to bite, and mass-market demand for ultrafast remains nascent. -
March 3, 2020The BBC: Benefiting the UK creative economy
Focus Report, ReportsA monolith within the broadcasting landscape and the greater UK creative economy, the BBC, instructed by its Charter, is a guaranteed leader of investment in local and quality content, tech, regionality, and diversity -
February 27, 2020Vocus 1H20 update: Network Services and New Zealand perform well, [...]
Focus Report, ReportsOn 19th February 2020, Vocus announced its 1HFY20 results which were largely in line with expectations. In 2019, Vocus had initiated a 3-year transformation process and an organisational restructure was part of this process. The company was organised into three groups. -
February 25, 2020Insurtech White Paper Part II: Australian Insurtech Market Overvi [...]
Focus Report, ReportsThis is the second of three reports in Venture Insightsâ series on Insurtech, following on from our discussion of trends in global insurtech. -
February 24, 2020Show me the money â broadcasters and sports rights on an unsust [...]
Focus Report, ReportsIt is Venture Insightsâ view that traditional Australian broadcasters will be unable to fund further increases to the cost of tier one sports as they continue to suffer from declining revenues in hyper-competitive markets. As such, premium Australian sports are likely to further split their rights, selling portions to non-traditional telco or tech players. In the long-run, Australian sports may even look at selling their content direct to consumer through âover the topâ distribution models. -
February 20, 2020Consumers endorse Disneyâs digital transition
Focus Report, ReportsRecruiting 29 million subscribers in twelve weeks, Disney+ has stormed the US market. Furthermore, the two million gain achieved after the holidays and the completion of The Mandalorian, relatively high ARPU, and rising Hulu and ESPN+ subscriptions bode well. Conversely, booming (but expected) losses of direct-to-consumer platformsâdue to increase as Disney+ launches in Europe in Marchâare undermining group profitability -
February 19, 2020Telstra and Optus: Falling ARPUs, increase in price sensitive mar [...]
Focus Report, ReportsTelstra and Optus reported earnings on 13th February 2020. While Telstra reported its 1HFY20 earnings, Optus reported its 3QFY20 earnings. In this report, we have analysed some of the key trends observed across the two major telcos and compared these with Ventureâs Australian telco market outlook and forecasts. -
February 17, 2020Vodafone plods on
Focus Report, ReportsVodafoneâs revenue performance remains decidedly lacklustre. Italy and Spain are struggling to bounce back, Germany is still languishing, and the UKâs 0.6% service revenue growth is the highlight of the quarter. Liberty Globalâs assets are disappointing both in terms of opening financials (revenues and EBITDA 8% and 12% lower than expected respectively) and outlook (now growing at half the rate at the time of deal announcement and guidance for Germany as a whole to be âflattishâ). Vodafoneâs guidance for a pickup in revenue growth to more than 1% in Q4 is encouraging but these are very tentative steps forward in challenging timesSector Telecom. -
February 14, 2020TalkTalk UK: FibreNation sorted but challenges remain
Focus Report, ReportsTalkTalkâs subscriber base and revenue fell again in Q3, and ARPU continued to decline despite good growth in its higher ARPU (but even higher wholesale cost) high speed base. The sale of FibreNation to CityFibre and the accompanying wholesale deal provides much needed cash and de-risking, although the migration to full fibre still brings challenges to TalkTalk given its low price focus. TalkTalkâs shorter term operational outlook is also still very challenging, with growing EBITDA in 2020/21 particularly difficult given stable/declining ARPU and the rising wholesale costs of migrating to high speed broadband -
February 13, 2020New Zealand 5G update: Still waiting on spectrum auctions with 2d [...]
Focus Report, ReportsAs New Zealand moves towards mass-scale 5G rollout, competition among telcos is forming and the debate around the spectrum sharing is intensifying. Limited 5G services are now being offered by Spark and Vodafone to select customers and they are counting on being able to provide mobile, fixed wireless and IoT services using the same network in the near future to increase their revenues. In this report, we look at the readiness of NZ consumers to move to 5G, the current state of critical spectrum holdings and the key 5G developments in NZ in 2019.Sector Telecom. -
February 12, 2020Sky UK FY 2019 results: a solid first full year under Comcast
Focus Report, ReportsDespite operating in a challenging market, Sky has continued to increase revenues, with the resilient performance of its direct-to-consumer and content businesses offsetting the disappointing drop in advertising income. Across FY 2019, EBITDA was up 12.2%; profit growth driven by a significant reduction in âotherâ costs as large one-off effects disappear and cost-cutting continues. Extended distribution deals with Netflix and WarnerMedia will protect Skyâs content proposition for the coming future, as would the mooted integration of Disney+ -
February 12, 2020BT: Searching for the nadir
Focus Report, ReportsBT had a weak December quarter, with revenue falling 3% and EBITDA 4%, despite a recovery at Openreach, mainly driven by tough competition and regulatory hits, with operating metrics solid but not noticeably improving. These hits look set to continue, so the companyâs hopes of a return to EBITDA growth in 2020/21 probably hinge on brand and service improvements actually becoming visible in operating performance. A successful full fibre roll-out would be a boon for BT in the longer term, and regulatory developments are headed in the right direction, if not quite there yet. However, its affordability without a dividend cut remains questionable in the current challenging environment -
February 11, 2020Subscription BBC?
Focus Report, ReportsThe Government appears set on reducing the scale and scope of the BBC by dismantling the licence fee, and in its place pushing for subscription or making payment voluntary, without any evidence of the likely impact. DTT â the UKâs largest TV platform â has no conditional access capability, and so implementation would require another costly and long-term switchover. A voluntary licence fee would inevitably lead to a huge reduction in income. If just those on income-related benefits were not to pay, the shortfall would be over ÂŁ500 million â in addition to the ÂŁ250 million the BBC will be funding for over-75s receiving Pension Credit -
February 5, 2020Australian 5G update: Telstra and Optus build continues, VHA entr [...]
Focus Report, Reports2019 was the year 5G launched in Australia making it one of the first countries in the world to launch 5G services. Whilst Telstra and Optus both launched in 2019, Telstraâs focus was centered on 5G mobile services whereas Optusâ 5G launch centered on 5G fixed wireless broadband services. 2020 will see further competition from the MNOs through continued rollout, VHA entry and potential pricing changes. We expect Telstra to continue its rapid 5G footprint expansion in Australia, including to the regional areas. In this report, we look at the readiness of consumers to move to 5G and the key Australian 5G developments in 2019. -
February 4, 2020Winners and losers as the UK fibres up
Focus Report, ReportsThe speeds made possible by full fibre build are unnecessary for most users in the short term, giving limited commercial advantage to those that can offer them, but are likely to prove essential in the medium/long term. The economics of full-scale, independent alternative networks look very challenging in our view â especially without the support of Sky â although there are some limited arbitrage/cherry-picking opportunities. The Openreach full fibre model makes economic sense under Ofcomâs proposed regulatory framework, provided it retains the lionâs share of the market, although considerable risks remain -
January 30, 2020Top 5 Media Trends in 2020
Focus Report, ReportsThe 2010s have been an extraordinary decade in media, demonstrating the speed of disruption in the media industry and the need for market participants to constantly innovate to stay relevant and unlock new sources of growth. So, what can we expect to be the top trends to arise in 2020? At first glance, we expect: 1. The SVOD wars to continue to fragment the media industry 2. BVOD will become a centrepiece of the âTotal TVâ ecosystem 3. Ephemeral social media will see exponentially growing revenue 4. Podcast revenues to grow due to improved infrastructure enabling effective monetisation and a simplified listening experience for greater adoption 5. Pushback against tech giants to create a more level playing field between local and global players This report explores these trends in greater detail and how they will impact the media landscape. -
January 29, 2020
Insurtech White Paper Part I: Global Insurtech Trends
Focus Report, ReportsThis is the first of three reports in Venture Insightsâ series on Insurtech trends and development locally and globally. The term âinsurtechâ is a combination of âinsuranceâ and âtechnologyâ, inspired by the term âfintechâ. Insurance is a notoriously slow-moving industry, with high barriers to entry, complex business models and stringent regulatory requirements; it has lagged consumer tech and even other financial services in updating its offerings and technology stacks. However, the âinsurtech revolutionâ has been seen as a potential challenge to that complacency. -
January 28, 2020Peacock: the future of ad-supported TV brands?
Focus Report, ReportsComcastâs new, on-demand service, launching in April, is an attempt to break NBCUâs unsustainable dependence on sales to Netflix and other SVODs. Peacock provides a path of digital transition for advertising-funded TV with a revamped low-load, high cost-per-thousand model. Reach will be built with a free online tier and distribution to Comcast subscribers. Peacock seeks carriage from other pay-TV operators, with which reciprocal deals would make sense (i.e. HBO Max on Comcast alongside Peacock on AT&Tâs platforms. In Europe, where Comcast has no existing major free-TV offering to transition, launching Peacock will be challenging but could present Sky with ideas to counterweigh Netflix on its own service -
January 23, 2020
Canât spell Media without AI â AI in Media and Video Consumpt [...]
Focus Report, ReportsAustralians love their video content, but as the infamously high piracy of Game of Thrones has gone to show, we donât like to pay ridiculous amounts for our weekly fix. New entrants in the video market have heeded the call for more affordable content in Australia with the launch of multiple SVOD services in recent years, including the recent announcement of the Disney+ November 2019 launch in Australia. However, overall market growth has been â and will continue to be â relatively stagnant as SVOD replaces incumbent video entertainment platforms.
